Fallen Beneath the Spotlight
by Angelic Guardian
Summary: When Jade and Andre are cast opposite one another in a play about a heartbreaking love story, Andre is forced to once again deal with his potential feelings for her. Oneshot. Jandre with referenced Bade and implied Bori.


**Author's Note:** I decided to write this story because I just wanted to experiment with this pairing a bit. After all, we do have that one episode, Jade Gets Crushed, to go off of, so it's not like this can even be considered a crack pairing anymore. XD It's actually starting to grow on me a little bit…but I have to admit that I could never love Jandre the way I love Bade.

Anyway, hope you enjoy.

**Disclaimer:** Victorious © Dan Schneider

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><p>"Don't you get it, April? I'm<em> in<em> _love_ with you!" Andre said in a dramatic voice, clenching his hands into fists in front of his chest. He took a step closer to Jade, who was standing next to him on stage. "You can't leave me. Not _again,_ April. Not…again."

Jade lifted an eyebrow ever so slightly, her arms tightly crossed against her body.

"You really think that telling me you're in love with me is going to _change_ anything, Derek?" she asked him in a calm tone, but rage began to sweep up inside her, and she uncrossed her arms as she lashed out at him, "Where was all of this two years ago? Huh? You tell me that!"

"April," Andre said in a much softer voice, which began to quiver as he said her character's name again, "April, _please._ We can fix this, baby. We can—"

_"Don't,"_ Jade silenced him, her tone cutting through his words like a knife. "Don't, Derek. Just don't. You had your chance with me, okay? It's over now." She took a step closer to him, getting right in his face as she started to scream, "DO YOU HEAR ME, DEREK? IT'S OVE—"

That was the moment when Andre grabbed Jade by her face and pulled her towards him, kissing her long and passionately on the lips. She closed her eyes, kissing him back, but not moving the rest of her body. He broke the kiss after only a short moment, but its powerful impact had said it all. The look on Jade's face was scared now, blue eyes wide and all.

After one last lingering moment with their eyes locked, Andre finally let go of her.

"It's not over, April," he said, voice low and full of emotion. "It never was."

He turned and walked right off stage then, leaving Jade standing there, alone, as she looked after him, unmoving. She slowly covered her face with her hands and collapsed to her knees…

"And…CUT!" Sikowitz shouted from his seat in the audience, a huge smile on his face. "Cut, cut, cut! End scene! That was simply _fabulous!"_

"Well, what can I say?" Jade said, a slightly cocky smirk spreading across her face as she got back to her feet. "I was born tremendously talented."

"Yes, yes, Jade, you are quite the actress," Sikowitz said, only adding to her ego, but then he added, "No need to be a little miss boastful pants. But Andre! Please re-enter!"

"Yeah?" Andre said, returning to the stage.

"Wonderful acting, young sir," Sikowitz said.

"Aww, well," Andre said, smiling a little, but still bowing his head modestly. "Thank you. I try, I try."

"And that _kiss!"_ Sikowitz went on, throwing his hands over his chest. "It was just so…_passionate._ You could practically roast a marshmallow off the intense _heat_ between you two."

The smile on Andre's face began to fade a little as he awkwardly coughed and jammed his hands into his pockets.

"Oh, uh, yeah," he said, trying to gain his confidence back by rolling his shoulders up. "Heat. Marshmallows. Uh, yeah, you know, I…I do my best."

"I've had better," Jade snidely remarked in a flat voice.

Andre couldn't help but look at Jade then, a weird feeling hitting him, one that could only be described as _disappointment._ Jade slowly returned the gaze, cocking her head a little as she shrugged.

"Beck's a really good kisser," she explained, still in that same matter-of-fact tone.

"Is that so?" Sikowitz said, stroking his chin with one hand, until an idea suddenly struck him. "Well, then, let's just do it again, and this time, Andre, try to kiss more like _Beck."_

"Oh, come on, do really we have to do that part _again?"_ Jade immediately griped, and again, Andre couldn't help but feel a little bit hurt by her comment. "We've already rehearsed that scene like twelve times this past week."

"Fine, fine," Sikowitz said. "I suppose you two do have to save _some_ of that raw emotion for opening night… I know, let's just rehearse the last scene again. And remember, you've really got to capture your audience with this scene. You want to leave them all on the edges of their seats, _dying_ for more, but in the end, knowing that they'll just have to go back to living their dull and unfulfilling lives as non-actors."

Jade furrowed her eyebrows at that, as did Andre, and Sikowitz looked between the two of them, briefly wondering why they were staring at him like that. Finally, though, he cleared his throat and clapped his hands twice.

"Let's go!" he said. "Top of the final scene of _April Showers._ Aaaand…action!"

Rolling her eyes, Jade silently took her new place on stage by carefully lying down on her back, her black locks sprawled over the stage. She turned her face slightly to the audience, her eyes closed. Andre walked over to stage right, waiting a moment before he started walking towards center stage again.

"April?" Andre called. He looked down to see Jade lying motionless on the ground. "Oh my God, _April!"_

He ran over to her and crouched down in front of her, placing his hands next to either side of her body.

"April!" Andre shouted. "April! Can you hear me? April!"

She didn't move.

_"APRIL!"_ Andre shouted again, a sudden crack in his voice. He didn't try to shake her, though. He didn't touch her at all. He simply brought up one of his hands, clutching it tightly to his chest as he began to weep. "April, _why?_ Why would you come out here? I was supposed to come to _you!_ Why would you do this? APRIL!"

When she still didn't move, Andre slumped against her, crying fake tears against her chest.

"April," he choked, slowly picking his head back up as he reached out and gently touched his hand to her face. "This is all my fault. Please, April. I love you. I—no. I don't just love you. I _need_ you. I need you so much. And…I can't. I can't live without you. I've just been so stupid and selfish to realize it until now, but April, I'm…I'm so sorry I made you run away. I'm sorry I betrayed you. I'm…"

Then, as if something dawned on him, Andre slowly dipped his head down, pressing his lips against Jade's in a kiss that was more chaste than it was aggressive, more tender and loving than it was fiery and passionate. It was long and slow, and as Andre kissed her, he could feel his heart beating hard in his chest, but he knew in the back of his mind that it had nothing to do with the fact that he was acting.

He ignored those feelings as he slowly pulled away from her. He closed his eyes, still pretending to weep, only harder now.

Out of nowhere, a long sigh escaped Jade's parted lips, and Andre immediately snapped his eyes open again.

"April?" he said, frantically, but with a touch of hope. "April?"

"De—" she spoke in barely a whisper, her eyes slowly fluttering open, just as Andre's eyes started to widen. "Derek?"

"April!" Andre said, his entire face lighting up now. "Oh my God, April!"

"Derek," Jade breathed, her voice soft and tired as she weakly lifted her hand, running it along Andre's cheek.

Upon feeling her touch, Andre briefly closed his eyes, trying his best to ignore the warm tingles that unexpectedly shot through his body as Jade grazed his skin. He had to remind himself that this was all just part of the scene, and he quickly remembered the script as he reached up with his own hand, enclosing it over hers.

"What is it, April?" he asked, stroking his thumb over the soft skin on the back of her hand.

"You were right," Jade said softly. "It was never over."

Andre smiled wide, and Jade soon mirrored it, tears in her own eyes, and as much as he tried to fight it, Andre couldn't help but notice how unbelievably _beautiful_ she looked like that. He promptly slapped the thought out of his mind, and he managed to focus on helping the pretend-weak and dying Jade get up. She slid her arms around his neck, and he felt his heart flutter as he scooped her up in his arms, bridal style.

"I love you, Derek," she said in a sincere tone.

"I love you, too, April. So much," Andre said the same way, and slowly, he grinned at her. "Now, come on. Let's get out of this rain."

And the lights would fade.

And the curtain would fall.

"YES!" Sikowitz shouted, practically leaping out of his chair. "YES! BRILLIANT! Absolutely brilliant! There's not a dry eye in the audience! Stupendous! Incredible! Oh, the heartache! The beauty! The heart aching _beauty!"_

As their crazy and overly dramatic teacher went on raving and clapping and throwing out random compliments to each of them, Jade simply glanced up at Andre.

"Uh…dude?" she said, causing Andre to snap out of the little daze he was in as he looked down at her. "You can put me down now."

"Oh," Andre said, clearing his throat. "Right, right. Sorry."

He let go of her legs as she let go of his neck, and he carefully lowered her to the ground so that she could stand up again. She straightened her black skirt and ran a hand through her hair, before she simply crossed her arms over her chest.

"So," she said, turning to look out at Sikowitz. "Are we done here?"

"Oh, yes, yes," Sikowitz said. "That's all for today. Really great work, both of you. I know you two are just going to _dazzle_ the crowd with your public performance this weekend!"

"Oh, I know I will," Jade said, but then she looked over at Andre, who was already looking back at her, frowning, so she corrected herself, _"We_ will."

Andre immediately smiled again.

"Well then, I shall see the two of you back here first thing tomorrow after school for dress rehearsal!" Sikowitz said as he picked up all of his belongings and quickly shuffled his way out the door. It shut with a slam that echoed through the now empty theater, aside from both Andre and Jade, who both headed backstage to grab their things.

"Hey," Jade said as Andre was putting on his coat.

"Yeah?" he asked, reaching into his pocket to take out his car keys.

"You think you could give me a ride home?" Jade asked.

Andre's eyebrows twitched upward slightly, but he caught himself and quickly wiped the surprised look off his face.

"I thought Beck usually picks you up when you don't have your car," Andre said.

"He does, but apparently he's stuck at his aunt's house helping her move a refrigerator or something," Jade said, and when Andre started to give her a weirdly confused look, she added, "I don't know, either that or repair it. I wasn't fully listening to him when he told me." She put a hand on her hip. "So, are you gonna give me a ride, or do I have to walk home?"

"No," Andre said, but then Jade's eyebrows shot up, and he quickly shook his head and started again, "I mean, no, you don't have to walk home. Of course I'll give you a ride."

"Good," Jade said, and with that, she pushed the curtain out of the way and started walked down the stairs, heading towards the door at the back of the theater. Andre quietly followed behind her, and it wasn't until they walked outside into the cool nighttime air that he finally said something.

"So, uh…what do you think of Sikowitz's play?" he asked, then as an afterthought, he added, "Honestly?"

"Honestly?" Jade repeated, keeping her head looking forward as they headed towards the student parking lot. "Honestly, I think it's sort of tacky and stupid. I mean, I really don't get why April keeps crawling back to Derek when all he does is stupid stuff that just keeps screwing up their relationship. Let me tell you, if Beck ever tried to pull anything like that on _me,_ I'd dump him in a second. For good."

"Oh, come on, Derek's not _all_ bad," Andre said, defending his character. "And, really, what's the guy supposed to do? After all, April's the one who hurt him in the first place by leaving him like that. If you ask me, _Derek's_ the fool for always being stuck on April, instead of just moving on with his pathetic life."

At that, Jade smirked, not in a mean kind of way, but rather in a much more amused kind of way.

"Well, April _did_ leave him a note," she pointed out.

"Yeah, a note that said_, 'Sorry.'_ A measly little note saying sorry isn't enough to heal the wounds of a broken heart!" Andre said, and Jade let out a small laugh then, one that sort of surprised him for a moment, but still caused him to smile.

"Yeah, I guess so," Jade admitted. "I dunno, all in all, I guess the play isn't _that_ bad. The only thing I really don't like about it is the ridiculously cheesy happy ending."

"Really?" Andre said. "I think it's kinda nice."

"Yeah, sure, it's _nice,_ but it's totally unrealistic," Jade said. "If _I_ had written the play, April just would've died right there on the street corner, and that would've been the end of it."

_"What?"_ Andre spat, raising his eyebrows in surprise. "Hold up, are you seriously saying that you wanted your character to _die?"_

"Well, yeah," Jade replied with a shrug. "I hate happy endings. They're stupid."

"But what about that play you wrote last year?" Andre asked. "What was it called…_Well Wishes,_ right? That play had a happy ending."

"That was different," Jade said, somewhat defensively. "The ending to my play had a _message._ What kind of message does _April Showers_ give us? That love alone is strong enough to fix all the problems in your life? That's nothing but a complete and utter _lie."_

"I think the message is more that true love can conquer anything," Andre mused. "I mean, yeah, sometimes love is hard, but when two people have a really strong connection, and they're willing to fight for each other and work at their relationship, then their love can overcome any obstacle that comes their way."

Jade looked at Andre then, her eyebrows high and her lips slightly parted.

"Wow, Andre," she said, sounding genuinely impressed. "I never knew you were such a hopeless romantic."

The atmosphere between them suddenly seemed to shift then. They both became quiet, and now, there was nothing but the sounds of their footsteps lightly pounding against the pavement. Fortunately, Andre's car was straight ahead, and he quickly pressed the button on his key to unlock the doors. Jade walked over to the passenger's side, opening the door and slamming it shut after she'd gotten in. Andre did the same, and then the two of them simultaneously reached over and put on their seat belts.

_Click._

"Listen, Jade," Andre finally said. He started up the ignition and put the gear into drive. "Can I ask you something?"

He began to pull out of the parking lot, anxiously waiting for Jade to answer him. Finally, after a few seconds passed, she shrugged and said, "Sure. Why not."

Andre's fingers subconsciously tightened against the steering wheel as he felt a skip in his heartbeat.

"All right," he said, suddenly nervous about what he was about to ask, "Um, so…when you…y'know…when you found out that you and I were gonna be doing this play together, what was your reaction?" He waited for maybe a second or two, and when she didn't say anything right away, he just kept talking. "I mean, were you…I dunno, surprised, or…_disappointed_…or…maybe…"

Jade shook her head, a small smile playing across her lips, although Andre didn't actually see it, since he was too busy keeping his eyes on the road in front of him.

"I wasn't disappointed," she answered, and hearing that, Andre allowed himself to glance over at her, for just a brief moment.

"Really?" he said, probably with a little too much excitement in his voice, but he just couldn't help it.

"Yeah, I mean," Jade went on, "I was just glad that _Tori_ didn't get the lead role of April."

And then, Andre felt his heart sink a little.

"Oh," he said softly. Of course, what he really wanted to say was, _"That's not what I meant."_

"'Cause, let's say if Tori had gotten the role of April," Jade continued, "and Beck had gotten the role of Derek, I probably would've taken a fresh pair of scissors and carved a _very_ filthy message into Sikowitz's car."

Andre didn't respond to that, frankly because he just didn't know _how_ to respond to something like that.

"She just _really_ gets on my nerves," Jade said, at this point just thinking out loud. "I mean, yeah, she's a nice person and all, but that's exactly what makes her so…_irritating_. I swear, sometimes I just want to go up to her and cut up her hair or maybe shove her away in a closet and lock the door so she can _never_ get out. Yeah, because maybe _then_ she'd stop being so likable and sweet and making _my_ boyfriend secretly like her more and more with each passing _day!"_

She practically snarled that last part, causing Andre to look at her in alarm. She had her elbow leaning against the car door now, her fingers digging into her long locks of black and bluish-green hair. Andre swallowed.

"You really think Beck secretly likes Tori?" he asked, quietly, since he was somewhat scared that she was about to explode or smash his windshield or do something crazy.

But she didn't say a word. She simply closed her eyes, drawing in a long breath. She exhaled it slowly, but still a bit harshly.

"I don't know," she finally said, her voice surprisingly calm now. "I mean, I know Beck loves me, but Tori's just so smart and pretty and—"

"Yeah, but so are _you,"_ Andre blurted out before Jade could even finish.

Again, the atmosphere between them immediately shifted. Andre's eyes widened, and he suddenly found himself holding his breath as he became very aware of his heart pounding nervously inside his chest. They both became so quiet that not even the sound of the radio softly playing was able to make the silence between them any less awkward.

"You…" Jade said at last, moving her hand away from her head. "You think I'm smart? And_…pretty?"_

Andre mentally cursed himself and his big stupid mouth, but it was too late now. He'd already said it. He couldn't just take it back.

"I think you're beautiful," he confessed without even thinking twice, because he knew that there was no going back now. He had to admit his feelings not only to her, but to _himself_. He couldn't keep denying them, even if they were wrong or immoral.

He just couldn't pretend anymore.

"Andre…" Jade started, only to trail off. For once, it seemed as though Jade West was truly at a loss for words. "…How long have you felt that way about me?"

Now, Andre just wished he wasn't driving, because then, he could've just made up some excuse and ran off or something.

But he couldn't run now. He had to face it like a man.

"Remember, a couple months ago, when we worked on that song together?" he asked, and part of him couldn't even believe he was actually having this conversation, but then another part of him was actually feeling a little _relieved, _because really, it had to get out eventually. He couldn't just keep bottling up his feelings.

"Wow," Jade whispered, settling her head back against the seat. "I honestly don't know what to say to that, dude. I mean, I…we…we're _friends."_

Andre's heart dropped from that.

"I know," he said softly. "And Beck's my friend, too. That's why I promised myself I'd never act on these feelings. Tori actually tried to help me get over you when I first told her about my little crush. She tried dressing up like you and pretending to _be_ you—"

"Whoa, wait," Jade said, more liveliness suddenly in her voice, "She tried to _be like me?_ No one can just _be_ me. I'm…I'm _Jade._ I'm hot and one of a kind. Seriously, who does that chick think she is?"

"I don't know. I thought it was crazy, too, believe me," Andre said, loosening up a little bit more now. "She was only trying to help me, though. But it didn't work, so then I ended up staying up an entire night writing a song about you to try to get you off my mind, but all _that_ did was—"

"Wait, wait, wait," Jade interrupted again, leaning forward and turning towards him. "A _song?_ You wrote a _song_ about me? For _me?_"

"Well…yeah," Andre said, starting to become sheepish again. "You, uh…you heard it, actually. Tori sang it with me. You know, the one I pretended to dedicate to my dog. It was really for you."

He finally pulled up in front of Jade's house, slowing the car to a stop. He looked at Jade, who was now staring out in front of her, looking both shocked and amazed all at once.

"I can't believe it," she said, as though to herself, until she suddenly looked at Andre, her eyes piercing right through him. "That's the sweetest thing I've ever heard. No one's _ever_ written me a song before. Not even Beck."

Andre could feel his cheeks heating up, but he managed to smile at her.

"Well, I—"

But he was cut off as Jade leaned forward and pressed her lips, hard, against his own. He felt his heart jump and his body go numb, but he closed his eyes and kissed her back with as much as he could, until she pulled back from him all too quickly.

"I'll see you tomorrow," she said. Then, smiling the most beautiful smile he'd ever seen, she added slyly, "Derek."

"I—" He could barely register what had just happened, his head buzzing and his lips still tingling from her abrupt and intimate kiss. Finally, though, he just grinned and said, "I'll be looking forward to it…April."

Jade got out of the car without another word, closing the door behind her. Andre just sat there, watching absentmindedly as she walked up to her porch. When she reached her front door, she stopped and looked back at him, and even though she was pretty far away now, he could still just about make-out that gorgeous smile on her face.

He smiled back, giving her a small wave.

On his drive home, he couldn't help but think that, maybe, this would be the start of something real between them.

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> I honestly can't tell if the dialogue for my made-up play was genuinely sad and emotional, or just plain cliché and melodramatic. Probably the latter. Oh well. Doesn't really matter, since the play itself wasn't necessarily important. It was really more of a plot device for the story.

Speaking of, what'd you think of it? I'll admit that it's not exactly my best work, but I'd still love to know what you thought of it. (And just so you know, I won't be writing a sequel for this story. Sorry.)

By the way, regarding the ending, I just sometimes like to write open endings like this one (or the one I wrote for my Bori fic, Possibly Meant to Be) because it allows the readers to come up with their own interpretation of what they think will happen next.


End file.
